BlackBerry® and Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), via its MSC Malaysia 'ICON' (Integrated Content Development) programme, has announced a collaboration to foster the development of local mobile app content on the new BlackBerry 10 platform.
The collaboration saw BlackBerry® deliver the 'Train the Trainers' programme to 15 ICON developers and lecturers from local universities to provide skills and content development on the BlackBerry® 10 platform. This one-week programme was conducted by authorised trainers who were flown in from Canada by BlackBerry® and was held at the MDeC Knowledge Development Centre in Cyberjaya.
Five places were allocated for participants to become authorised BlackBerry® developer training partners in the Asia-Pacific region. The remaining ten places were allocated for the training of Malaysian academic developers who will be up-skilled to provide training to local university students.
The train-the-trainer programme will generate content for the BlackBerry 10 platform for the benefit of Malaysian consumers and enterprises as well as provide skills and knowledge transfer to grow the pool of Malaysian mobile app developers, particularly university students.
"We are excited to strengthen our collaboration with Blackberry via the Train the Trainer programmes on the new BlackBerry 10 platform, which will undoubtedly contribute to growth and success of the Malaysian mobile app industry," said Ng Wan Peng, chief operating officer of MDeC. "It is imperative for local developers to be equipped with the right technical and soft skills, business coaching and marketing exposure to be able to compete in the local, regional and global apps market."
"The BlackBerry World storefront within BlackBerry 10 provides access to a giant catalogue of music and video content as well as apps and games," said Annamalai Muthu, country director of Malaysia at BlackBerry. "With currently over 70,000 apps upon launch, we definitely want to include local content within BlackBerry World and ensure that there is relevant content to Malaysia. With this collaboration in place, we are excited to see the output from our local developers here in Malaysia."
There are currently over 100 mobile apps produced by ICON developers on the BlackBerry 10 platform, with more on the way. ICON and BlackBerry began its partnership in mid-2012 where 30 ICON developers were invited to the BB Jam 10 in Singapore. Currently there are about 50 ICON developers who are trained for the BlackBerry 10 platform nationwide via numerous workshops conducted in Klang Valley and Penang.
Launched in 2009, ICON was conceived to encourage and facilitate the creation of local mobile apps by developing capacity and building the ecosystem for local developers to enter the global apps market.
The first run of ICON from 2009 to 2010 saw 1,100 individuals exposed to the basic knowledge of app development, out of which 221 developers successfully completed the advanced training in iOS and Android platforms. MDeC approved financial grants to 60 projects, which saw 180 jobs and 96 mobile apps created.
The success of the first ICON prompted MDeC to launch ICON2 in July 2010, which offered two-tier structured assistance and facilitation opportunities. The lower-tier called ICON apps, targeted fresh graduates and new developers, who were ready to pitch ideas to create mobile apps. As at the end of 2012, a total of 200 developers across the nation have successfully pitched their ideas and more than 80 mobile apps have been created and marketed in both iOS and Android stores.
The upper-tier, called ICONdap, is aimed at funding online and mobile content developers to create ideas into a proof-of-concept, thus encouraging entrepreneurship. So far, MDeC has approved funding for 20 projects, out of which two have been completed, while the rest will be completed in stages by the first quarter of 2013.
To find more details on the MSC Malaysia ICON program, kindly visit www.mscmalaysia.my/ICON.
